to bluebird. get it at your local walmart. >>> welcome back. real clear politics average of national polls shoi the race for the white house is still at a dhed heat, 47%. on this same day four years ago, then senator obama led senator mccain 47-44. today president obama will become the first sitting u.s. president to vote early when he casts his ballot in chicago in a couple of hours from now. the president will join more than 7 million people who have already voted early, and it's these early ballots that team obama hopes will give them the edge as it did four years ago. let me bring in jim warren, chicago editor of "the daily beast" "newsweek." jim, great pleasure having you on. what are you hearing from folks in chicago? >> first of all, tamron, i did not know until a few minutes ago that you and rahm emanuel share a penchant for colorful language. >> everybody from texas curses. i just generalized my whole state. >> exclusively as hour ago the cook county clerk gave me their latest figure. 95,000 folks in cook county v t voted early, which is a huge increase over 2008 when at this sam